We will remain
by thestoriesofsvu
Summary: 10 years has passed since SVU detective Chester Lake was arrested and remanded to Rikers. His former partner Samantha Boyd still thinks about him and their adventures at SVU. Could she have done something differently? Will their friendship and love for each other still remain after all they have been through? And will she ever see him again?
1. Chapter 1

_Present day._

Samantha Boyd, mostly known to friends as Sam, sat in her windowsill, looking over the city lights of San Francisco. The clock had just hit 02.00 in the morning, perfectly timed with when she stroked a match that had lighten up her dark bedroom. She lightened up another cigarette, draw a long hit, as her tired eyes looked out in the horizon.

She always sat there. Every night.

In a pair of navy sweats and a black t-shirt and barefoot, curled up in her windowsill, just watching.

Like she was looking for something.

She had been sitting there almost every night for 10 years, except for when she was actually taking the sleeping pills the doctor wrote out to her.

But tonight was not one of those nights. She was looking for it. The sign. The sign that he was out there, that he was heading to her, that he was coming home to her.

It had to be there… Behind the Golden Gate Bride and another 3.000 miles away.

The curled photo laid in the window. The years had taken it's toll on it, curled up, broken edges, with a little note on the back, saying: "We remain"

She slowly picked it up and held it with her thumbs, balancing the photo and the cigarette that was stuck between two fingers in her right hand. She looked down as a single tear ran down and hit his face in the photo, as she started reminiscing about New York. Another life. And about how former SVU detective Sam Boyd found that one person that would change her life forever. Detective Chester Lake.

 **Memory 1: Same old with a twist of new.**

 _10 years ago, Manhattan Special Victims Unit._

 _16_ _th_ _precinct, New York City._

Sam arrived at work, what felt like, a little too early that Monday morning. They had just wrapped up a case that Friday, got the guy convicted, and was granted the weekend off, despite knowing that they would properly catch a new case, before their perp from the previous case, was even arranged.

Of course that did happen, but not until that morning, so luckily everyone got to have their weekend plans uninterrupted.

Sam looked around the squad room, where phones were ringing, people tapping at their computers, and the big boards across from her desk showed a big photo of a young boy, not much hair and a scared look on his face, saying: "John Doe". She raised her eyebrows in a tired manner, knowing that this case would cause several hours of overtime and at least 100 cups of coffee.

She sighed deeply and walked to her desk. She adjusted the photo of her parents and brother a little bit, brushing her thumb over it. She looked at her brother's face and then at the board. They looked so alike… She felt a hand on her shoulder and was dragged out of her own head. "Morning Sam Sunshine" she turned her head to see Fin standing next to her, placing a cup of coffee on her table: "A little milk and two teaspoons of sugar"

she scoffed under her breath and send him a big smile. "Thanks Fin". "I thought you looked a bit like someone who needed it" She rolled her eyes and grabbed the coffee: "Are you saying I look tired, Tutuola?" she raised her eyebrows and shot him a look, while taking a sip of the coffee and sat down in her chair. "I'm saying…" he started, sitting down in his chair: "You're running late" he send her a smirk and Sam shook her head and rolled her eyes: "You are unbelievable" she laughed, and saw Olivia and Elliot smirk at her as well. She knew where they were heading with those smirks on their faces…

"FYI, I'm not seeing Lorenzo anymore" she said and took another sip of coffee.

"Why not? He's salsa moves wasn't satisfying enough for ya?" Elliot teased and started danced around the squad room. She laughed: "You guys are horrible people, I can't believe you're my friends" she shook her head and looked towards the Captains office, as he walked out.

"Nice moves Elliot, but… Save them for later" the Captain said and Olivia and Sam shared a look and a smile. Sam made eye contact with a Hispanic male standing next to Cragen. He was tall, handsome. Just Sam's type. Hopefully not as creepy as Lorenzo, but after all there is a difference between a Spanish salsa dancer with an emotional attachment problem and a trained NYPD detective. He had short black hair and was wearing black jeans, a white shirt and a black leather jacket, that look quite good on him. He send her a smile which she returned a bit awkward, before meeting Fins eyes from across the table.

She rolled her eyes and sighed before looking at the Captain as he started a sentence: "I would like you to meet our new detective Chester Lake. He just got transferred from Brooklyn's SVU division. Fin helped them with a case last month. Now, I know that everybody involved with the… incident two weeks back is cleared by A.I.B, but everyone who knows Tucker, knows he can change his mind quickly and we do need the extra pair of hands and the extra brain, so this is where we are" Everybody nodded and understood the orders. They had A.I.B breathing down their neck, and most of the detectives had been called in for, what Tucker called, "a friendly chat", so it wasn't exactly because the squad was effective, during the case at that time.

"So… Sam, I know that you and Tutuola here have been working as a team for a long time, but we need a refresh of air, and someone need to _clear_ the air, so…" Sam interrupted, shooting her forefinger up in the air: "Let me guess… Tutuola needs to clear some toxic air with our favorite Sergeant over there so they won't start yelling at each other in the middle of the squad room again and I'll be partnering up with new guy"

She heard Detective Lake scoff under his breath as he let out a little laugh. "Yes, exactly" Cragen said. "Lake, you're desk is here" Lake nodded and sat down in his chair, starting placing his stuff on his desk, as Sam shot him a look. He looked back at her and she turned to her coffee.

"So, this… John Doe on the board. Who is he?" she asked, looking at the photo as the flashbacks came back… "21 year old male, was thrown from a car driving high-speed through the city. Witnesses called 911, they are on their way to the precinct now.

\- "Where is he now?" Sam asked, still starring into the boys eyes.

\- "Uh.. He's at Mercy's. He will recover, but I just got a call from the hospital, before filling you in. He was raped. Repeatedly"

\- He won't tell them his name. He really wants to get out of that hospital, and with good reason…"

\- "And that reason is?" Elliot asked.

\- "He's a heroin addict"

Some sighed deeply, some shook their head. They had seen this so many times before, it wasn't really news to them. Sam just sat there, looking at the photo. That boy… He reminded her of everything she couldn't save back then, 8 years ago.

"Where are the parents?" Munch asked. Cragen shrugged his shoulders. "To me, he looks like a homeless. He had no money, no wallet, no I.D. on him, so… I want Elliot and Olivia to go to the hospital, see if you can get him to tell you something.

"Fin and Munch, go talk to the 911 callers" and… "Chester and Sam, run his photo through every database you can find, see if we got anything on him and check traffic cams around the block, and try find his parents" he said, while walking back to his office.

A few minutes later the squad room was almost entirely cleared for people, except for two officers sitting at the balcony up across from Sam's desk, going through some paperwork, and then her and Chester. Without the phones ringing and detectives tap dancing their way over the floor, it seemed awfully quit.

As she waited for answers from the different databases, to see if there was a hit on their John Doe in the hospital, she noticed that the silence had somehow grown from nice to awkward.

To be honest, despite his good looks, she wasn't fond of the idea of having a new partner. She had been mopping with Fin ever since she first arrived to the precinct about 18 months ago. A year and a half was long times spend working cases together, and the squad did have a very special bond, just like a family. So the idea of being working with someone she knew nothing about and didn't knew how to get a conversation going with, wasn't exactly one of the best ideas, she'd heard of. The fact that he was good looking though, made it a little easier for Sam to come out of her shell, even though she knew it was highly unprofessional.

Even though she already missed having Fin around to make her crazy every hour of their shift, she didn't want to give the new guy a hard time.

She tapped her pen against the edge of her desk, before rising from her chair, heading to the coffee machine. She returned with two cups of coffee, placing one of them on Chester's table. He starred at the coffee mug for a second and then looked at his new partner, frowning his eyebrows shortly and send her a smile: "Thanks"

Sam couldn't help but think that his smile was quite gorgeous.

"You're welcome. We've got to look out for each other here, I mean…" she shrugged her shoulders: "We're in for a long one. We're looking out for each other here, so… Drink that and stay awake" he scoffed under his breath, grabbing the cup: "Copy that" he laughed as Sam sat back down and started tapping on her computers keyboard.

A few minutes later Chester appeared by the side of her desk.

She just starred at him, raising her eyebrows.

"What, your own desk is not good enough for ya?"

She smirked at him. He let his eyes rest on her for a second, before returning his attention to his laptop. "Yeah, but…" he shrugged his shoulders: "We're working on the same thing here, so it's easier if I sit here, so we don't have to run back and forth all the time"

She gave him a slight nod and took another sip of coffee.

"What, you assuming that I'm flirting with you?" he grinned, and she scoffed and shook her head.

"Just shut up, and watch your surveillance videos"

He scoffed under his breath and watched his screen.

 **Author's note:**

 **I hope you like the first chapter!**

 **This is the first fic I post here, and I really hope that you guys will leave some comments! :D**

 **Thank you.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Memory 2: When past and present collide**

One hour later the squad room was, again, a circus. Stabler, Liv, Munch and Fin were back in the squad room sharing their information on the kid in the hospital.

"How's the kid?" Sam asked, watching Olivia and Elliot as they walked to their desks.

Olivia sighed as she poured herself a cup of coffee.

"He's okay, during the circumstances. His name is Fred Parker. He ran away from the orphanage when he was 15, lived in an abandon building in the Bronx along with other homeless teens. He started during drugs and was picked up on the street by a couple, saying that they knew where he could get a fix, but he never got what he was looking for. Fred says that they took him to a place with 5 other kids, younger than him. He never knew their exact age or their names, but all kids were used as prostitutes…" she said, and Sam felt the voices fading out. She looked at the family portrait at her desk. She just starred at it, feeling the urge to cry, but she couldn't. It was like she was mechanic, not able to cry, just hurting on the inside. She could feel her breathing getting heavier… The flashbacks… The horrible sounds, the pictures in her head… The memories…

She was tossed out of her thoughts when she felt Elliot's hand on her shoulder: "Sam? You alright?"

she looked up at him. And at everybody else. They all looked at her with concerned looks. "Yeah…" she exhaled. "Yeah, I'm fine, sorry. I… What were you asking again?"

Elliot let go of his grip and backed a little off: "Munch asked if you and Lake found anything?"

Sam turned to her computer: "Yeah, we did. Actually, we found quite a lot. Fred Parker is not in the system, _but_ he is in child services system. I have a contact there, who remembered him. He was placed there along with his… sister Alice who's now 29. Their parents died in a robbery-gone-wrong at a supermarket. Both of them took a bullet to the head. Alice was placed in foster care and works at Mercy hospital, but Fred ran away after his parents died. I'm tracking the sisters address now"

Cragen nodded and turned to Munch and Fin. Sam glanced at her new partner, who apparently wasn't listening at all, since his eyes remained on his laptop screen. "Anything from the 911 callers?" Cragen asked Fin.

Fin shook his head: "Dead end. The car drove away so fast, nobody really got a good look at them. They did say, though, that there were two people in the car, they had to slow down in order to open the door and throw him out. Didn't get the license plate either, but did say it was a red pick-up"

"Well, they might didn't get a good look at their faces, but I think we just did" Chester said, and turned his computer for everyone to see.

Everybody gathered around the screen. "Son of a bitch" Cragen mumbled and everybody looked up at him.

"What?" Olivia asked and Cragen frowned his brows a little, looking at the screen as if he was trying to remember something.

"I think I have seen these two people before. 10 years back I got a call from.." he looked at Sam and continued: "from your father, actually. They had a case in Chicago, involving the kidnapping of a 7-year-old girl. A year later, the girl showed up. She was, just like Fred Parker thrown out of car, driving through Chicago. Unfortunately she wasn't as lucky as him. She died when she hit the ground. The police questioned these two because witnesses had seen them near the girls' school a few times, but they had nothing to go on, so they cut them loose and wrote the case off as a cold case"

Sam nodded and looked at the screen: "My dad talked a lot about that case. He was so frustrated because of it. They questioned everyone in the girl's life, everyone had alibies. There was no way to link these two to the kidnapping since there was no way to prove that they were near her school with the purpose to kidnap her, and they found no DNA on the body that matched these twos or anyone in the system. The M.E. did say that she had been raped though"

She looked at Cragen who just stared at the screen: "But now we have a victim here that matches the things the girl in Chicago went through, and my gut tells me that these two were involved" he looked at Sam. "Your father couldn't close this case. So now we're going to do it for him"

6 hours later Sam and Chester was sitting in Sam's car, driving upstate. Sam hadn't said anything, she just kept her eyes on the road. Too many things had happened that day. Fred died at the hospital. His organs shut down and the doctors did everything they could to save him, but it was too late. Sam couldn't say that she was surprised, but it was unfair and it didn't had to happen, if someone had just looked out for the boy in the first place. They had reached his sister. She hadn't talked to him for all those years, but she had started her own individual investigation. She looked for him everyday, handed out flyers in her neighborhood, talked to other homeless people. She was going nuts. She didn't even know that her brother was at the same hospital as she was, during her Monday shift. She had been looking for him for so long, and then all of a sudden they were in the same building, and she was beating herself up because of it. When Chester and Sam was at her place, interviewing her, they got a call from Olivia, who said that Fred had died in the hospital.

Giving Alice that message was the hardest thing Sam had ever experienced during her time as a detective. She nearly started crying herself when Alice broke down after identifying the man on the M.E's table as her brother Fred Parker. Sam kept telling her that it wasn't her fault and that she did everything she could to save her brother. But she knew deep inside that she wasn't just trying to convince Alice. She was trying to convince herself that _she_ herself had done everything _she_ could for _her_ brother.

She saw herself in Alice. And she saw her brother in Fred.

And this case wasn't just her case. It was linked to a case that her father worked on 10 years ago. It was too big of a meeting with her past in just one day, and she wasn't exactly aware of whether she was doing this for the victims or for her father.

The only thing going through Sam's head was that she wanted those pieces of shit that caused Fred's death and Alice so much pain, locked up for life. They had send out their suspects' photos to every news station and paper in the city. It paid off. They got a call from a local trooper, saying he knew the couple. They lived in a cabin by the lake with their 5 children. 2 boys and 3 girls. The trooper identified one of the boys as Fred, but despite that Fred looked a little pale and ill sometimes, he didn't seem to think that nothing was suspicious about the family, they were always nicely dressed and put of a happy-family show for everyone they met around the cabin.

Sam, Chester, Elliot and Olivia drove up there to arrest the couple and save the other kids.

Sam and Chester was the first to arrive. Sam parked the car behind a few bushes, just in case someone would drive by. She turned of the engine and looked at her phone.

"El and Liv are 15 minutes away" she sighed as she put the phone back in her pocket and continued to stare out the window. She sighed as the flashbacks kept coming to her.

She could feel Chester's eyes lingering on her.

She turned her head and looked at him: "What?" she asked in a harsh tone.

He shrugged his shoulders: "Nothing, it's just…" he sighed and shifted a little in the car seat.

There was silence for a second, and Sam raised her eyebrows a little, waiting for an answer: "Are you okay?" he asked and Sam shrugged her shoulders: "Why shouldn't I be?"

He scoffed under his breath as a little smile appeared on his face: "Look, I'm not blind. Your father worked on a case that might be connected to this one, and I _saw you_ in the morgue with Alice, I heard what you said to her, and I saw how you looked at Fred's body. This isn't just a regular case to you, this is personal…"

Sam couldn't look at him. She felt the tears gathering in her eyes. She turned her head to the window.

"You're parents.. You're brother…" he started. "They're dead, aren't they?"

Sam closed her eyes. " _They're dead, aren't they?"_ the words kept ringing in her ears.

She cleared her throat and turned her head again: "Where are you going with this?" she snapped and let out a little laugh. "I mean, really? Where?"

He just looked at her. "I'm a cop. Not stupid"

"Yeah, and I'm a cop too, but you don't see me snooping around in your past, right? So unless you have a subpoena for me talking to you about this, shut the hell up. And don't ask me about my family again" she hissed through her teeth and exited the car, slamming the door behind her and exhaled deeply.

"Man, so much for not giving your new partner a hard time" she mumbled as she saw Elliot and Olivia pull of next to her.

 **Author's note:**

 **So.. This is chapter 2! I hope you guys like it and will leave some comments and opinions on where this fic is going.**

 **Thank you for reading! :) x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors note:**

 **Here is chapter 3! I hope you'll enjoy!**

 **FYI, the chapters in this fic works as memories of the moments between Sam and Chester.**

 **I won't be detailing every case they work on, but the moments that are important to the story and their relationship**

 **Memory 3: In this together**

"Are you okay?" Olivia asked, as she approached Sam.

She nodded: "Yeah, just new guy here giving me a hard time about the whole personal-ankle-on-the-case kind of thing and now I feel guilty for asking him to shut the hell up on his first day" as she let her body rest against the car with her arms crossed.

"He doesn't know?" Olivia asked quietly as Chester got out of the car.

Sam looked back at him before turning her head back at Olivia: "No, and he ain't gonna" she said with a serious face and raised her brows a little, as Elliot interrupted their little chat.

"The troopers are parking down the road. Nobody has left the house and they say they haven't seen the kids since they arrived. They snuck up to the house and peaked inside the windows"

"So he could have killed the kids?" Chester suggested and Sam gave him a look, before pulling her bulletproof vest out of the trunk. She threw one to Chester and pulled hers one. "The kids better be alive, or I will shoot those bastards asses as soon as I see them"

She started walking down the path that led to the house, and she knew that her co-workers send each other looks.

It wasn't the first time for Elliot and Olivia to see Sam like that. Irritated and hungry for justice.

They caught up with her. "Chester and I take the house, you go around back?" She looked at Olivia and Elliot who gave her a nod.

Slowly they approached the house, Elliot and Olivia going around the house.

"Ready?" she asked Chester. He nodded and banged down the door.

"NYPD! Nobody move" Elliot shouted for the whole household to hear.

Suddenly a woman appeared running towards them with a breadknife. Before she could attack anyone Sam reacted and threw the woman's hands behind her back, causing her to drop the knife. "Mrs. Thompson, you're under arrest" Sam hissed through her teeth.

"Where are your husband and the kids?" Chester asked, walking towards her. "Bite me" she hissed back and they heard a car engine start.

"He's making a run for it! ELLIOT!" Sam shouted, begging for Elliot to either hear her shouting or the car engine.

Before Sam could react she felt an elbow hitting her stomach, all air left her and she spun around on one feet, causing her to hit her forehead on the edge of a wooden table behind her.

She felt dizzy and groaned in pain, as she felt the blood started running from the wound. All she remembered seeing was the woman running out the front door, heading for the car, that was parked in the drive way.

"Sam, are you alright?" Chester kneeled beside her and she waved her hand in direction of the door. "I'm fine, just go get them!"

Chester went off and she heard Elliot yell something to Chester, before they ran after the car that was about to take off.

Sam frowned her face in pain and held a hand to her head, as she tried to get up, but she fell right back down and hit the floor.

"Urgh, god damn it" she hissed through her teeth and saw Olivia kneeling down at her.

"Sam.." she exhaled. "Sam, it's okay. It's going to be okay. I've called for an ambulance. It's on it's okay"

Sam just nodded and pointed at a door, leading to a basement.

"Liv, we need to get down there. The trooper said there are kids in the house, but they aren't on this floor. There's no 1st floor, they have to be down there. Get them, I'll be right behind you"

Olivia shook her head. "You're staying here, okay? You might have a concussion"

"It doesn't matter, what matters is they kids. They might be dying down there, and if there are 5 kids down there, you can't get them up at once, on your own. Go!"

Olivia got up and ran to the down, yanking it open, and ran down the stars.

Sam slowly got up and trembled to the door and down the stairs. Her vision was still blurry but she managed to get down there.

"Oh my god!" she sighed under her breath, as she saw 5 kids hanging in chains by their wrists. Olivia yanked the pipe down and the kids' hands slowly felt down.

"He drugged them. If the paramedics don't get here soon, they're going to die" Olivia panted and Sam fell to the floor, unable to do anything. She got more and more dizzy with each minute. The blood ran down in her eyes. She tried to stay strong, to get back up on her feet and help Olivia, but she couldn't. It was all a blur and her body felt so heavy…

2 minutes later the paramedics arrived along with six ambulances.

The last thing Sam remembered before passing out was being brought into the ambulance, feeling someone holding her hand, as the person softly said: "It's all going to be okay, Sam. Everything's going to be okay"

"So… You're good to go. Just remember to relax and clean the wound and if you get any problems or worse headache's than you're usual used to, give us a call" Sam nodded and send the nurse a grateful smile.

Luckily the wound on her forehead wasn't as bad as she had first expected. It was a nasty wound, but she was lucky enough to avoid a concussion.

She jumped down from the hospital bed, and grabbed her leatherjacket and her purse and walked down the hallway, and smiled big when she saw Fin walking towards her.

"Fin, what are you doing here?"

She held out her arms and embraced him in a hug.

"Well, I heard you got tackled by a crazy bitch today. I came here to drive you to the precinct. Are you doing okay?" he asked and placed a hand on her upper arm.

She shrugged her shoulders. Her arms were crossed, holding her leatherjacket tight. "I'm okay, I guess. It doesn't hurt as much as it did when I woke up from my daze, but… Yeah, I'm okay. I guess I have some apologizing to do" she let out a little laugh, when she remembered how she went off at Chester a couple of hours later.

"Oh, you mean when you yelled at Chester earlier?" Fin asked and sends her a little smile.

Sam send him a look. How the hell did he knew about that?

Before she could even ask him, he turned his head to her as they walked down the halls of the hospital: "He told me. And don't worry about him. He's not mad at you" he said, sounding too sure for Sam to believe it could be true.

"How can you be so sure that he's not mad at me? I treated him like crap, I mean.. He was just trying to be nice. That doesn't give me the right to snap at him like that?"

"He knows how stressful it was for you and he felt that he was nagging on you and pressuring you into tell him about what happened with your brother and parents, and he never intended to do that. Actually, he drove with you in the ambulance" Fin said and Sam stopped immediately.

"Was that him holding my hand in the ambulance? I was so spaced out, I didn't recognize the voice" she said, and couldn't believe that her brand new partner would do that for her.

Fin nodded. "Maybe you're new partner isn't so bad after all.. But I know you miss me" he send her a playful smile as he opened the car door for her, as they reached the parking garage.

"Of course I miss you" she smiled and got into the passenger seat. "But lucky for both of us, we still see each other every day"

"And you ain't getting rid of me" he laughed and started the engine and drove them to the precinct.


End file.
